Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #10: Loyalties by Patricia Barnes-Svarney

Author:Patricia Barnes-Svarney [Barnes-Svarney, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-671-55280-5
Publisher: Minstrel Paperback
Published: 1996-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

7

Beverly was exasperated. This is impossible, she thought. Peter could have died from that simulation—I could have been seriously hurt, too. Why couldn’t she convince Wiley that he was wrong—that she had been shocked, and that something was wrong with Peter’s and Claire’s simulation. Why didn’t he see?

Claire slumped at her desk. The computer screen in front of her blinked, waiting for its next command. “I can’t study,” she moaned.

Beverly sighed. She knew exactly how her roommate felt. After all, her computer remained untouched for the past hour, too. “Claire, I’m exhausted. Let’s try to get some rest. Think things over. Maybe things will look better in the morning.”

Claire muttered in agreement. She slowly crawled under the covers as Beverly called for the computers and lights to turn off.

It wasn’t easy to fall asleep. No matter what position Beverly tried, she felt uncomfortable. Why didn’t Wiley want to find out the truth instead of blaming someone else for the accident?

When she last looked at the chronoclock near her bed, it was 0100 hours. She finally fell asleep and dreamed that she was trying to stop a simulation. She yelled to the computer to stop. She pushed the computer panels along a wall. But no matter what she did or said, the simulation continued. After what seemed like only a short time, she awoke in a cold sweat as an alarm chime sounded.

“Claire—time to get up,” she said, throwing off the covers.

A flashing light on her comm pad caught her eye. At the same time, she noticed that Claire was not in her bed. She pressed the comm pad and Claire’s face appeared on the small screen.

“Hi, Bev. I just received a message from Mrs. Oner. She said to come immediately—that she felt ill. She’s helped me before, Bev, so I wanted to help her. And yes, I have permission from Ensign Linn. I’ll try not to get into trouble. See you later.“

Beverly quickly brushed her teeth and washed. She ordered a red and black medical cadet jumpsuit from the replicator and dressed. After brushing her hair, she looked at herself in the room’s long mirror to make sure she looked neat and polished—as was expected of an Academy cadet. The only flaw on this perfect cadet, she thought, is the worried look on her face.

She looked at Claire’s message on the comm pad screen again. The time said 0410 hours. It was almost three hours since Claire had left the message.

She knocked on Ensign Linn’s door and straightened the comm badge on her jumpsuit collar. Ensign Linn, the dorm’s watch officer, was already dressed. “Cadet Howard,” the junior class ensign said, grabbing a padd from a table near the door. “I was wondering when you would show up. You found Cadet Voy’s message?”

Beverly nodded. “Yes, and I’m really surprised. I had no idea Mrs. Oner was ill. Claire usually talks quite a bit about Mrs. Oner.”

“It sounded like it was pretty sudden,” said Ensign Linn, handing the padd to Beverly. She pushed her left thumb on the padd, registering her thumbprint as identification.

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